Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

Although there’s a lot of grumbling in the UK about that £135 ($270) yearly television license fee (only $87 for a black and white set!), it’s hard to complain that the BBC doesn’t try to use all that money in cool ways. Adding to their already-ambitious plans to distribute HDTV through torrent, datacasting, and IPTV, the Beeb announced today that, after years of delays, they’ve been approved to pair up with ITV and launch a free 200-channel HD-capable satellite service called Freesat in the spring of 2008. The move is designed to provide digital service to the estimated 25% of the British public that can’t get the successful FreeviewDVB-T service, but it’ll also be free to any license payer who ponys up for one of the several available interactive receivers. Hmm, that’s an interesting version of “free,” must be the British spelling.

[Via TechDigest]

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Filed under: Digital Cameras, Displays

Since the medium-sized digiframe market is getting so crowded these days, it’s leaving manufacturers with little choice but to spruce up their offerings or get left in the crowd. Thankfully for us all, Aluratek has decided to bolster its stance by throwing down a 10.5-inch digital photo frame that not only sports a sleek, classy design, but also ups the ante in the specs department. The 1,024 x 768 resolution seen here has definitely made an appearance on another (albeit larger) frame before, but it touts 256MB of built-in memory, USB 2.0, compatibility with CF, MS, SD, MMC, and xD flash cards, and support for JPEG, Motion JPEG, AVI, and MP3 file formats. Additionally, a bundled wireless remote allows you to control the still / video slideshows from afar, and the audio output enables users to crank things on the home stereo whilst utilizing the integrated display. Best of all, the pricetag isn’t one to balk at, as the $199 Aluratek is asking for here isn’t too greedy at all when compared to the (mostly lacking) competition.

[Via PopGadget]

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Filed under: Networking

Unfortunately for most, traversing back and forth to Asia from America on a regular basis isn’t exactly in the cards, but thanks to a $500 million project agreed upon by a 17-member telecommunications consortium, visiting via fiber will soon be a whole lot snappier. Telekom Malaysia, along with 16 other firms, have awarded a half billion dollar contract to Alcatel-Lucent and NEC to construct a 12,428-mile link between the west coast of America and Southeast Asia. The aptly-dubbed Asia-America Gateway will connect the western US with Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Guam, and Hawaii, while also offering “seamless interconnection” with Europe, Africa, and Australia. Moreover, the project is being designed to provide a “more secure link for traffic” across the seas, as it avoids the hazardous Pacific Ring in hopes of dodging massive internet outages due to unexpected earthquakes. Best of all, the wait time for the undersea cabling to make an impact is fairly reasonable, as users should see “faster and more reliable service” when it becomes operational in December of next year.

[Via Physorg]

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